PREAMBLE:
The Catholic Charismatic Renewal (CCR) as it is known globally has been in existence in our parish for over eight years now. However, this is not a new group in the Catholic Church. It has been in existence in other parishes within and outside Nairobi diocese even before it was formed here. At Consolata, the members meet every Tuesday after Evening mass to fellowship together where they give thanks and praises to God and sharing the word of God together through exercising spiritual gifts in accordance to the graces received.
Activities
The group runs with a whole year devotional program seminar and retreats that equip them to effectively evangelize and by bearing witness to Jesus Christ through personal testimony and through those works of faith and justice to which each one is called, among other activities like visiting the sick ,children homes, the elderly, and prisons. The group is engaged in all other activities of the parish as requested by their spiritual director, the parish priest, or his appointee since they are in full participation of other church groups or committees.
What is Catholic Charismatic Renewal?
- The Catholic Charismatic Renewal (CCR) began at a retreat for college students at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (USA) in February 1967. The students had spent much of the weekend in prayer, asking God to allow them to experience the grace of both baptism and confirmation. The students, that weekend, had a powerful and transforming experience of God, which came to be known as ‘baptism in the Spirit’. The account of the weekend and the experience of the Spirit quickly spread across the college campus, then to other campuses throughout the country.
- The charismatic experience soon moved beyond colleges and began to have an impact on regular parishes and other Catholic institutions. Loose organizations and networks were formed. Catholic charismatic conferences began to be held, drawing over 30,000 at Notre Dame Campus in South Bend Indiana in the mid-1970’s.
- The Renewal caught the attention of the Church, and the leaders of the movement met Pope Paul VI (1975) as well as Pope John Paul II several times. In addition, several of the bishops’ conferences, of various countries, have written pastoral letters of encouragement and support for the movement.
- The Catholic Charismatic Renewal is not a single, unified worldwide movement. It does not have a single founder or group of founders as many other movements do. It has no membership lists. It is a highly diverse collection of individuals, groups and activities – covenant communities, prayer groups, schools, small faith sharing groups, renewed parishes, conferences, retreats, and even involvement in various apostolate and ministries, often quite independent of one another, in different stages and modes of development and with different emphases, that nevertheless share the same fundamental experience and espouse the same general goals.
- The common thread for the Movement is the ‘baptism of the Holy Spirit’. For many people, this new, powerful, and life-transforming outpouring of the Holy Spirit takes place in the context of a specifically designed seminar called ‘Life in the Holy Spirit’, although many have been ‘baptized in the Spirit’ outside of the seminar.
OBJECTIVE
The deepest identity of the CCR and its essential mission specified in five objectives, as follows:
- To foster mature and continuous personal conversion to Jesus Christ, our Lord, and Saviour.
- To foster a decisive personal receptivity to the person, presence and the power of the Holy Spirit. These two spiritual graces are often experienced together in what is called in different parts of the world a baptism in the Holy Spirit, or a release of the Holy Spirit, or a renewal of the Holy Spirit. They are most often understood as a personal acceptance of the graces of Christian initiation and as an empowering for personal Christian service in the Church and in the world.
- To foster the reception and use of the spiritual gifts (charismata) not only in the CCR but also in the broader Church. These gifts, ordinary and extraordinary are abundantly found among laity, religious, and clergy. Their proper understanding and use in harmony with other elements of the Church life is a source of strength for Christians on their journey towards holiness and in the carrying out of their mission.
- To foster the work of evangelization in the power of the Holy Spirit, including the evangelization of the unchurched, the re-evangelization of nominal Christians, the evangelization of culture and social structures. CCR especially promotes sharing in the Church’s mission by proclaiming the Gospel in word and deed, and by bearing witness to Jesus Christ through personal testimony and through those works of faith and justice to which each one is called.
- To foster the ongoing growth in holiness through the proper integration of these charismatic emphases with the full life of the Church. This is accomplished through participation in a rich sacramental and liturgical life, and appreciation of the tradition of Catholic prayer and spirituality, and ongoing formation in Catholic doctrine. This is guided by the Church’s Magisterium, and participation in the pastoral plan of the Church.
Several times, Popes have addressed the Catholic Charismatic Renewal. Below you will find some of the most important quotations that have given the Renewal light and strength.
Several times, Popes have addressed the Catholic Charismatic Renewal. Below you will find some of the most important quotations that have given the Renewal light and strength.
How then could this “spiritual renewal” not be “a chance” for the church and for the world? And how, in this case, could one not take all the means to ensure that it remains so? […] Nothing is more necessary for such a world, more and more secularized, than the testimony of this “spiritual renewal”, which we see the Holy Spirit bring about today in the most diverse regions and environments. Its manifestations are varied: deep communion of souls, close contact with God in faithfulness to the commitments undertaken at Baptism, in prayer that is often community prayer, in which each one, expressing himself freely, helps, supports and nourishes the prayer of others, and, at the basis of everything, a personal conviction. This conviction has its source not only in the instruction received by faith but also in a certain experience of real life, namely, that without God, man can do nothing, that with him, on the contrary, everything becomes possible.
ADDRESS OF POPE PAUL VI TO THE CATHOLIC CHARISMATIC RENEWAL ON OCCASION OF THE SECOND INTERNATIONAL LEADERS’ CONFERENCE:
ROME, ITALY· 19th MAY 1975
The Catholic charismatic movement is one of the many fruits of the Second Vatican Council, which, like a new Pentecost, led to an extraordinary flourishing in the Church’s life of groups and movements particularly sensitive to the action of the Spirit. How can we not give thanks for the precious spirituals fruits that the Renewal has produced in the life of the Church and in the lives of so many people? How many lay faithful—men, women, young people, adults and elderly—have been able to experience in their own lives the amazing power of the Spirit and his gifts! How many people have rediscovered faith, the joy of prayer, the power and beauty of the Word of God, translating all this into generous service in the Church’s mission! How many lives have been profoundly changed! For all this today, together with you, I wish to praise and thank the Holy Spirit.
AUDIENCE OF POPE JOHN PAUL II WITH THE NATIONAL SERVICE COMMITTEE OF THE ITALIAN “RENEWAL IN THE SPIRIT”
ROME, ITALY · 4th APRIL 1998
You, the charismatic Renewal, have received a great gift from the Lord. Your movement’s birth was willed by the Holy Spirit to be ‘a current of grace in the Church and for the Church’. This is your identity: to be a current of grace. […] You have received the great gift of diversity of charisms, the diversity which becomes harmony in the Holy Spirit, and in service to the Church. […] The Charismatic Renewal is a great force meant to serve the preaching of the Gospel in the joy of the Holy Spirit. […] You, the people of God, the people of the Charismatic Renewal, must be careful not to lose the freedom which the Holy Spirit has given you! […] I expect you to share with everyone in the Church the grace of baptism in the Holy Spirit (a phrase we find in the Acts of the Apostles).
ADDRESS OF THE HOLY FATHER POPE FRANCIS TO CHARISMATIC RENEWAL AT 37TH CONVOCATION OF RNS OLYMPIC STADIUM
ROME, ITALY, 1st JUNE 2014
The Charismatic Renewal has reminded the Church of the necessity and importance of the prayer of praise. When we speak of the prayer of praise in the Church, Charismatics come to mind. When I spoke of the prayer of praise during a homily at Mass in Santa Martha, I said it is not only the prayer of Charismatics but of the entire Church! It is the recognition of the Lordship of God over us and over all creation expressed through dance, music and song.
ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS TO MEMBERS OF THE “CATHOLIC FRATERNITY OF CHARISMATIC COVENANT COMMUNITIES AND FELLOWSHIPS” PAUL VI AUDIENCE HALL
ROME, ITALY, 31 OCTOBER 2014